No Leah Williamson, Alex Greenwood or Jess Carter - Maya Le Tissier must grab Lionesses centre-back opportunity and prove her point to Sarina Wiegman

Le Tissier has been a lightning rod for debate when it comes to the Lionesses in recent months. "I was expecting that," Wiegman laughed when asked about the Manchester United captain following her start as a centre-back against Australia in the last camp, having been bombarded with questions about her since re-emphasising that she saw Le Tissier as more of a right-back than a centre-back just a couple of weeks prior.

That stance sparked a frenzy on social media, particularly after United, somewhat incredibly, got involved. "Maya Le Tissier has started 104 games for United," a post on the club's official X account read. "103 of them have been at centre-back." Ian Wright, meanwhile, took to Instagram to state that he simply didn't "understand" Wiegman's point of view, calling Le Tissier "the most consistent" English centre-back in the Women's Super League.

"I think it's hard not to see it. It's everywhere," Le Tissier said of the public questioning of her role when talking to BBC Sport. "Obviously I play centre-half at club level every single week and every single day in training. So for me, I love playing centre-back, and full-back is a different challenge. I enjoy that as well, but I don't feel as kind of confident.

"It's hard when you go play a different position that you don't play at all. I just try and do whatever Sarina asks of me, just to get on the pitch, no matter if it's at full-back or centre-half or anywhere else where Sarina thinks I could play!"

How Wiegman used Le Tissier during the October camp suggested something of a softening on what had, at times, previously felt like a very strong position. The defender started as a right-back in the first game of that international break, a defeat to Brazil, but ended it at centre-back. Then, three days later, she started at the heart of the defence as England bounced back with a victory over Australia.

"I think in both positions, she has done really well," Wiegman said after the latter outing. "I'll have a review on that. We'll discuss it over the next couple days, because I want to see this game back. But I think she did really well."

Those comments were the cherry on top of what felt like an incredibly positive camp for Le Tissier, in which she went about her business at full-back without any sense of complaint before showing what she could do when deployed in the position she knows best.

This week is now a real opportunity to build on that. It's hard to overstate just how different Wiegman's centre-back options are this month when compared to what she has been used to during her four years in charge. In that time, Bright, Williamson, Greenwood and Carter have been mainstays, with at least one of them starting in the defensive line in all of her first 71 games as England manager. That run only came to an end in England's most recent outing, when Wiegman started Le Tissier alongside Esme Morgan for the visit of Australia, in her 72nd game in charge.

Indeed, that became only the 11th time in those 72 matches that the centre-back pairing or the back three - taking into account the period which saw the Lionesses regularly set-up in a 3-5-2 shape - was not exclusively made up of a combination of Bright, Williamson, Greenwood and Carter. However, none are available for this upcoming window, with Wiegman instead to have to pick from Le Tissier, Morgan, Lotte Wubben-Moy and Grace Fisk.

Previously, it would've felt like an opportunity for Wubben-Moy, who was granted a start in four of those first seven occasions when Wiegman turned to a centre-back outside of her trusted quartet. It could well be this week, too, as after finding game time extremely hard to come by for most of the year, the Arsenal defender is starting regularly again, owing to a devastating ACL injury for rising star Katie Reid that saw the teenager join Williamson on the sidelines for the Gunners.

But it is still the case that Wubben-Moy has fallen down Wiegman's pecking order in recent times. In fact, she was not actually in England's final squad before the Euro 2025 announcement, not until Bright decided to take an extended period of rest that would eventually progress into her missing the tournament and, more recently, retiring.

Instead, Morgan's status in this team has increased steadily in the last couple of years and she has got the nod for those moments of change in the defence, as evidenced by her start in the Euros semi-final clash with Italy. With Fisk uncapped, and rarely called up under Wiegman, Morgan and Le Tissier do feel like the first-choice starting centre-back partnership for this week, with variations dependent on how much Wiegman wants to rotate a spine that is already missing starting goalkeeper Hannah Hampton.

Of course, there is always the chance that Le Tissier gets a run out as a right-back again, particularly with Wubben-Moy a more attractive candidate for a start because of her regular game time at club level in recent weeks. Wiegman explained last month that her use of the Manchester United captain in that position, which she has played previously but not for many years, was down to a variety of things.

Those included a "lack of depth" behind Lucy Bronze, the guaranteed starter when ready; the "availability of players", with both Bronze and Niamh Charles still building up their fitness in the last camp after injuries; and also the "managing of minutes", whether in camps or when taking into account the demands on that player for club and country as of late.

Fortunately for Le Tissier, some of those factors are different this week compared to the last England camp. Bronze and Charles, the latter of whom has started to play right-back a little more in recent international breaks, are back to full fitness, and Wiegman has also brought Anouk Denton back into the squad after she was called up midway through the last window. The 22-year-old England youth international has been a consistently impressive performer at right-back for West Ham and clearly impressed Wiegman when training with the seniors last month.

If she can keep doing that, it could be good news for Le Tissier in the long-term as she looks to make strides in England's centre-back competition.

Most important for Le Tissier, though, is that she takes advantage of opportunities like this week, the kind of which won't happen often. She did that last month, impressing as a centre-back in her first chances there in an England shirt, and she has to do it again because in the next camp in the New Year, it's likely that the position is going to be fully restocked with Williamson, Greenwood, Carter, Morgan and herself all involved.

It's not been easy for Le Tissier as of late. She went into the last camp as one of the most in-form defenders in the country and in the entire England squad, having starred in United's incredibly impressive start to the new season. However, things have gone a little off the rails for both the Red Devils, who have lost three of their last four, and Le Tissier, who has been leading a defence that has conceded 12 goals in their last five games.

Of course, it's not all been on the United captain, who was actually one of her team's best performers in the 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa earlier this month. An injury to Phallon Tullis-Joyce, the Red Devils' excellent goalkeeper, has also been a notable factor in that skid.

Regardless, this week offers Le Tissier a chance to put that all to one side and focus on taking what could be a big moment in her England career. "It is absolutely an opportunity to step up and show where the players are who are in the squad now," Wiegman said of her centre-back absentees this month. Le Tissier will hope she is granted the chance to do exactly that - and in a central role, rather than out wide.